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Checkers

Chess originated in India in the 6th century as a game called Chaturanga and spread to Persia and Europe through Islamic conquests. Checkers has origins as far back as ancient Egypt and Iraq around 3,000 BCE. While chess evolved into its modern form by the 15th century, checkers developed in France in the 12th century on a chess board with new rules and designs before spreading to other parts of the world. Both chess and checkers remain popular games today.

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60 views

Checkers

Chess originated in India in the 6th century as a game called Chaturanga and spread to Persia and Europe through Islamic conquests. Checkers has origins as far back as ancient Egypt and Iraq around 3,000 BCE. While chess evolved into its modern form by the 15th century, checkers developed in France in the 12th century on a chess board with new rules and designs before spreading to other parts of the world. Both chess and checkers remain popular games today.

Uploaded by

Fel Official
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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hat do you like to do when you get bored?

We don’t get bored often in Wonderopolis, but when we do,


we reach for a BOARD…game! Two of our favorite classic board games are checkers and chess. Some of
our friends WONDERed which of these classics came along first, so we decided to find out!

Luckily, our time machine was full of fuel. We set the dial back about 1,500 years and headed to ancient
India. That’s where historians believe people first played an ancient form of chess in the sixth century.
That game was called Chaturanga.

The game eventually spread to Persia, where Islamic migration helped it become a part of Arabic
culture. In the Muslim world, the game became known as Shatranj. The Islamic Moors spread the game
to Southern Europe when they conquered Spain and Portugal.

Slowly, the game of chess evolved into the form we know today. A version of the game played in 15th-
century Europe looks a lot like today’s chess. Around the same time, its name was shortened to “shah.”
Over time, English and Germanic names for the game became closer and closer to “chess.”

It was not until the latter part of the 19th century, though, that modern chess tournaments began.
That’s when the popularity of the game grew by leaps and bounds. Chess remains popular, especially in
the modern Internet age. The invention of computers led to advances in chess theory. Online chess play
has been popular since the mid-1990s.

So, as you can see, chess has a long, rich history. What about checkers? Historians know that checkers
was mentioned by the ancient writers Homer and Plato. Looks like we’re going to need our time
machine again, because checkers is much, much older than chess!

Historians now believe that the oldest form of checkers was played around 3,000 B.C.E. It was found by
archeologists in an ancient city called Ur in Iraq.

Those who have studied the history of checkers have also found a game called Alquerque. It was played
in ancient Egypt as far back as 1,400 B.C.E. Alquerque remained very popular throughout the western
world for thousands of years.

Today’s game of checkers developed around the start of the 12th century. A Frenchman came up with
the idea of playing checkers on a chess board. At that time, the game was called “Fierges” or “Ferses.”
With a new board design and new rules set, the game made its way to England and the Americas.
Today, most English-speaking countries use a 64-space checker board. This is known as the short king
board version. However, much of Europe and Asia use a checker board with 100 spaces. This is called
the long king version. Some people in Canada even use a board with 144 spaces!

Checkers remains a popular game around the world today. For many children, it’s the first game they
learn how to play. Teachers have long known that the simple game of checkers can provide significant
training in thought and logic. Of course, it also keeps players occupied with fun competition.

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